Sri Lankan demonstrators said on Wednesday (July 13) the political struggle will continue despite President Gotabaya Rajapaksa having fled the country, hours before he was due to step down amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis, Reuters reports.
"There was no way the president could stay in the country. He has been in hiding all this time so he will have to live out of the country. But just because he has left doesn't mean the struggle is over. If he has robbed, then the struggle will continue until all is confiscated," 32-year-old activist Chintaka Pradeep told Reuters. "He is not going to escape just because he's left the country."
Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane for Maldives on Wednesday, officials said. The president would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, the government source said.
Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo.
